There are many allegories of resistance to oppressive regimes: street protests, tax evasion, conscientious refusal to take part in illegal wars, and armed resistance, amongst many others. More recently a 34 year-old Ethiopian politician and former judge, Birtukan Mideksa, has highlighted a simple and poignant metaphor, amongst others in this non-exhaustive list – the refusal to issue an apology for taking part in a protest against a rigged election which benefitted the very government which now keeps her in solitary confinement. Caged in a two metre by two metre cell, and denied visitors or the ability to leave her cell, she refuses to capitulate.
Mideksa has a history of defying the government. Earlier as a judge, who demonstrated a degree of judicial independence, she rendered a series of decisions that were overturned. She resigned her membership in the bar rather than being part of a legal institution that was beholden and controlled by the executive. As a politician, she challenged the government in contested elections in 2005 which were deemed to be fixed in the present dispensation’s favour. When she participated in protests against the election results, she was imprisoned for two years. Mideksa was released in 2007 on condition that she issue an apology - which she never agreed to do and never ultimately rendered. Late last year she was once again imprisoned for not having apologized and perhaps for having the temerity to declare this refusal abroad. A life sentence was thus re-imposed by the government of Ethiopia.
While Mideksa’s refusal to apologize is a symbol of resistance, she is herself an interesting metaphor of defiance against an oppressive regime in furtherance of human rights and the rule of law. Often women in Africa (particularly in the context of female genital mutilation) are imagined as purely the victimized objects of Western rescue in some form. Mideksa’s defiance in some ways challenges this caricature. While the conditions she is forced to live in are deplorable and earns her sympathy, there is a principled choice that she makes in undertaking this punishment. Mideksa is not a mere victim, but an individual subject imbued with agency.
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/jailed-ndash-the-judge-who-refused-to-say-sorry-1543645.html
Mideksa has a history of defying the government. Earlier as a judge, who demonstrated a degree of judicial independence, she rendered a series of decisions that were overturned. She resigned her membership in the bar rather than being part of a legal institution that was beholden and controlled by the executive. As a politician, she challenged the government in contested elections in 2005 which were deemed to be fixed in the present dispensation’s favour. When she participated in protests against the election results, she was imprisoned for two years. Mideksa was released in 2007 on condition that she issue an apology - which she never agreed to do and never ultimately rendered. Late last year she was once again imprisoned for not having apologized and perhaps for having the temerity to declare this refusal abroad. A life sentence was thus re-imposed by the government of Ethiopia.
While Mideksa’s refusal to apologize is a symbol of resistance, she is herself an interesting metaphor of defiance against an oppressive regime in furtherance of human rights and the rule of law. Often women in Africa (particularly in the context of female genital mutilation) are imagined as purely the victimized objects of Western rescue in some form. Mideksa’s defiance in some ways challenges this caricature. While the conditions she is forced to live in are deplorable and earns her sympathy, there is a principled choice that she makes in undertaking this punishment. Mideksa is not a mere victim, but an individual subject imbued with agency.
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/jailed-ndash-the-judge-who-refused-to-say-sorry-1543645.html
No comments:
Post a Comment